100k in <3 years - goal accomplished

Cyberscum

OP I see your getting close to 200k next year. That's great considering the time frame. Well done.

hurricane1091

Cyberscum wrote: »

100k really is not that much anymore.

Everyone I work with makes well over 100k in a very low cost area and no one is living a lavish lifestyle.

It's a good goal, but most people I know making over 100k despise their jobs in reality ha ha.....me included

Why even bring this into the thread? Average wage in this country is not even close to 100k. Average household income is not even close to 100k in probably every state. 100k doesn't mean go buy a BMW on a whim because you're bored, but the vast majority of America would love to make 100k a year.

NetworkNewb

Those 1 percenters... (article is based on info in the US from 2014) The Top 1 Percent Income Levels By Age Group | Financial Samurai

xxxkaliboyxxx

Good job OP, it's a great accomplishment, sorry for the derailment which I was a part of. I don't think anyone is singling you out by the way. Seems most of it is a healthy debate.

NetworkNewb

xxxkaliboyxxx wrote: »

Good job OP, it's a great accomplishment, sorry for the derailment which I was a part of. I don't think anyone is singling you out by the way. Seems most of it is a healthy debate.

Exactly, sounds like he had a good situation and made the most of it. I only hate him a little for that

Iristheangel

Doesn't matter that the OP lives in Boston in this case. The OP is up to $166K which is good money for *almost* anywhere in the US. If he's making $166K a year now, that's about $13K/monthly before taxes. According to Paycheckcity.com, without any additional allowances and putting down single, his net pay would almost be $9K after taxes. Not sure what the OP's life is like (kids, spouse, single income, etc), but with that pay, he could rent a decent sized 4 bedroom house between $2-3K. Craigslist came back with 1294 matches with 4 bedroom rentals under $3K. If he's a bachelor or married without children, he could get a really snazzy 2 bedroom apartment under $2K in Boston as well. That's still plenty of money left over for adult things like savings, food, car payments, paying for school loans, or whatever else that the OP does with his money which in reality isn't my business. I'm just calculating theoretical money and costs here to show that the OP is rocking it. Sure, he could go live in BFE and his salary wouldn't need to be as high but he's where the jobs are. More importantly, he's where the company is that is willing to train him up on this skills he can carry throughout his career and pay him the money for it.

tldr: OP is rocking it. Not every company is awesome enough to give big raises and prop their folks up, but more power to the OP for finding one and sticking with it.

anhtran35

I know of middle age and elder contractors that already own homes in Texas/SC/NC etc that are renting rooms from sub areas while working in DC. Usually taking a 1 or 2 hour metro commute to make that 100k or above. I knew of one guy who lived in a Econolodge for several months before a co worker rented out a room. There are even stories about those kids purchasing vans and making tiny homes in SF Bay Area to live in rent free. HARSH but you do what it takes till you make it.

hurricane1091

Most companies wouldn't give the raises OP got, it's really just the reality. 90k after 8 months experience just never happens under normal circumstances, so if someone is feeling down and out about their life - I wouldn't. Hell, GlassDoor says 94k is the average in Boston for a Sr Systems Engineer, and OP was getting that as a regular Systems Admin.

I actually do believe the OP, there's no doubt some companies like to take care of their people. I just don't think this 20 bucks an hour to 140k in 2 and a half years success story should be the realistic goal for basically anyone. CCIEs get paid 140k a year in normal markets and that takes ages to become ready to pass that.

jrisbrook

That's not true at all. Without getting too much into my own business lets just say you have to be in the right company or most times the right size company. Some ppl work for small-mid size businesses that just pay lower salaries. 90k is possible if you get the right certs mixed with being able to market yourself and properly negotiate. Many ppl may have 1 skill but not the others and therefore fall short. Majority isn't always right. he knew exactly what he was doing. He says it was luck, but I say it was his will , determination and perseverance that got him that position and salary

hurricane1091

@=jrisbrook;

I am not trying to be negative, but when I see extraordinary scenarios get normalized on here, it really gets me going. If it was normal, everyone here would be in the same boat. Then the wage wouldn't mean squat, and we'd all be living like people in the Silicon Valley. From a personal standpoint, I feel extremely grateful and fortunate to be where I am at. It's not even close to where OP is at, but even my situation doesn't feel normal. I couldn't with a straight face say what has happened to me can happen to everyone. I think I put in hard work, and was gifted two prime opportunities. Hopefully I make the most of the second one like I did the first.

People should (and have) feel happy for OP. No one should call him lucky. He was at a company that provided the opportunity. More companies need to be like that. I would call a 110% raise an unrealistic expectation because it almost never happens, but the idea that he works for a company that is willing to give opportunities to deserving individuals is really fantastic.

kalimuscle

Congrats OP.

Don’t listen to these haters here.

You did well and when other people know they can’t do what you did they feel miserable

So it’s only natural for these kind of people to hate.

If the haters here worked smarter and harder and concentrated on their own careers rather than hating on someone because they did something great then this post would be filled with many positive and lovely comments………

sj4088

Well played sir. Well played. I look forward to your next update next April when you be at 200k or pretty close to it after only 4+ years in IT.

georgios

Congras. Well done.

I don't know how you did it but sounds to me quite unreal. In a big company, how would they let you as a helpdesk to touch Core infrastructure? Many of us including me are struggling to get exposure of it. The only normal contact way between helpdesk and server team is email or other similar ways. You won't work with them. So how could you get the chance? I'm curious and jealous.

labscloud

Congrats man, helluva accomplishment!

certnoob

AMAZING job OP. That is something to really be proud of and especially in the amount of time you pulled it off. Sounds like you earned it.

Just wanted to chime in with my two cents for those talking about cost of living. I am in the Midwest in a 'sort of' helpdesk position making 40k a year and that's about median. That might seem low but the COL here is relatively low too. A 4br 3ba new construction home, 2500sqft here is 250k but then again our county has the 2nd highest cost of living in the entire state so that's "high" for our state. For OP in Boston he mentioned 100k+ salary a year and 500k for the same house. So really if you made 40k here and 100k there, a house would still turn out to be ~5x the amount of your annual wage no matter where you live, so cost of living might be comparable.

Now I don't in any way mean to diminish OP's accomplishment, that is not my intention and I think he has done a fantastic job. But just another point of view for those wanting to break 100k a year, it would be a lot harder where I live than maybe out on the coast or in a big metro area.

bgold87

Everyone complaining in this thread are the same ones that are like "Geez, 8 years in the industry and still at $50k i'm doing something wrong." Yes you are. The OP is lucky in that his employer is providing him the opportunity, but the same path is available if you move jobs and progress. I don't agree with job hopping being that bad, in fact if someone has been in the same position for several years I question their motivation. If you're not making the money you want then you need to get into a more in demand area of IT. Windows Admin jobs aren't going to get you that high salary, I hate to break the news to you, it over saturated. DevOps, Cloud Functions, Virtualization etc. You need to plan what the landscape in IT looks like in the next 5-8 years and focus on getting those skills because that's what's coming. I don't think what the OP did was hard at all. He identified gaps in the industry that needed filled and made himself a resource to fill those. Im sure he busted his @$$ to get the knowledge, if you do the same in a high demand area, you'll see the same benefits.

DatabaseHead

dave330i wrote: »

When I graduated from college in the late 90's, 1 of my goal was earning $100k/year. It's interesting that people are still using $100k as a goal. During the ~20 years price of good have doubled, tripled and beyond, but salary haven't kept up.

Exactly

Inflation or should I say deflation of the dollar is ~3% each year. Compound that over 20 years and see what the "New" 100,000 assuming your graduation year/date is a line in the sand.

So if my math is correct 100,000 in 1990 is 45,296.55 in 2018.

It's really not that much money......... 200,000 k is the new 100,000.

This in no way is to take away from the OP, besides he/she is getting close to the 200,000 k mark. Just wanted to add some context to the number 100,000. It's relative......

DatabaseHead

One thing I left off. If you aren't getting AT LEAST 3.1% each year leave that job....... You are LOSING money year over year if that is not the case.

hurricane1091

This particular person had no idea what his career path was. Suddenly they decide he's worth a 50k raise, and throw him in DevOps. That's just odd folks. Anyone who normalizes the situation is out of touch.

http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/117529-unsure-career-path.html

Blucodex

Definitely not the norm but I agree with the message. Bust your ass on and off work and seize your opportunities. You don't deserve a raise just because you show up.

hurricane1091

You're being generous. Guy maybe was a hard worker, sure. Didn't know his direction in life and suddenly was just given a 50k raise a month or two later? Then comes on and preaches to everyone about working hard and this is totally normal, when it was clearly a stroke of luck and right place/right time kind of thing (if it even happened). The first part of his story is suspect at best. Nearly 6 figures patching machines. The next part is just absurd.

I love to be inspired, and this story isn't doing it for me. I refuse to be someone who blindly just praises folks. Opportunities are out there people, there is money to be made. 6 figures is possible even outside consulting/contracting. But this story wreaks - especially when you dig in a little deeper. The folks on here studying for CCIE and similar certs are inspirational. The pay these people end up with is well deserved, and it inspires me to do better. A guy who gets a 50k raise for seemingly just being there doesn't get me fired up and thinking it's happening for me next. Chalk it up whichever way you like, I tell it like it is. I make less than 150k, deserve less than 150k, but do believe if I applied myself in a certain direction that it would be possible to probably be making 130k today (specifically SDN/network automation). So the idea of moving up that quickly with certain skillset does not bother me, but this specific case just seems off.

LeBroke

hurricane1091 wrote: »

I actually do believe the OP, there's no doubt some companies like to take care of their people. I just don't think this 20 bucks an hour to 140k in 2 and a half years success story should be the realistic goal for basically anyone. CCIEs get paid 140k a year in normal markets and that takes ages to become ready to pass that.

I'm actually pretty proud of myself that I accomplished this on a similar timeline, though not as good, and in Canadian monopoly money (which is only like 70% real money). So basically nothing at all like the OP (mad props to him), but still something to be proud of.

Start -> CCNA, A+. Got me:
Overnight datacentre support tech -> $15
August 2014 - April 2015

Did a lot of stuff with Linux and have an outgoing personality. Got me:
Linux sysadmin -> $42k start, $46k after probation
April - December 2015
Did way too much end-user support though, so got fed up and started looking.

RHCSA, Linux experience, some basic AWS, and experience with Java + MySQL stack got me:
DevOps engineer -> $70k start
January 2016 - now
-> bumped to $76.5k about 16 months later, retroactive to January so technically $76.5k after 12 months

Followed up with a recruiter, received an offer from a multinational for a $120k contract role 2 months ago. Followed up with my bosses. They decided to match to $95k which is about as far as they can physically go (I believe them) + tickets to re:Invent + senior title.

Came down to a coin toss, decided to stay in the end (mostly because I really enjoy the party atmosphere with 20/30 year olds and keggers which is good for my severely depressed mental health). With my bonus and RRSP (Canadian 401k) match, it should put me over $100k, and with other benefits at about $105k total comp.

Next step, finish my degree so I have a piece of paper I can present at the border, get better at coding, and start applying to Silicon Valley firms to pad my resume some more.

EDIT: clarity.

Danielh22185

hurricane1091 wrote: »

You're being generous. Guy maybe was a hard worker, sure. Didn't know his direction in life and suddenly was just given a 50k raise a month or two later? Then comes on and preaches to everyone about working hard and this is totally normal, when it was clearly a stroke of luck and right place/right time kind of thing (if it even happened). The first part of his story is suspect at best. Nearly 6 figures patching machines. The next part is just absurd.

I love to be inspired, and this story isn't doing it for me. I refuse to be someone who blindly just praises folks. Opportunities are out there people, there is money to be made. 6 figures is possible even outside consulting/contracting. But this story wreaks - especially when you dig in a little deeper. The folks on here studying for CCIE and similar certs are inspirational. The pay these people end up with is well deserved, and it inspires me to do better. A guy who gets a 50k raise for seemingly just being there doesn't get me fired up and thinking it's happening for me next. Chalk it up whichever way you like, I tell it like it is. I make less than 150k, deserve less than 150k, but do believe if I applied myself in a certain direction that it would be possible to probably be making 130k today (specifically SDN/network automation). So the idea of moving up that quickly with certain skillset does not bother me, but this specific case just seems off.

I was kind of thinking the same thing. Although I've heard even crazier. I have a friend that claims to be making $300k now in cloud services. I don't see how that's possible. He claims to have gone from low $100k to $300k+?!?

Although like I mentioned before the company may actually value in building their employees. That's a rare thing these days. Took me 7 years to reach 100k+ (5 years in networking)

Iristheangel

I could be wrong but he doesn't sound like some of the folks we've seen before that claimed they were offered CTO jobs while at lunch because they wore a VMware shirt or some other sort of ridiculousness. Is this guy's story the norm? Eh, not really. It takes a lot more than hard work ... sometimes the "right place, right time" but it's possible the guy is telling the truth. I'm glad it worked out for him if it's true but since the only thing that seems weird about the story is the timeline, I'm willing to say it's possible it's true.

mgeoffriau

My takeaway from this this is not so much a formula for reaching $100k that fast -- obviously, the OP's story is something most of us would find difficult to replicate without such an advantageous set of circumstances -- but rather that you don't always know exactly when or in what form the next great opportunity will come, so if you are putting yourself in good position to take advantage when it does, then growth and advancement will come much sooner.

So no, you can't copy what the OP did and get $100k in the same timeframe. It depended a lot on the company, the department, the supervisors, the specific business needs, the local marketplace, the cost of living adjustments for that area, and numerous other hidden factors. But the broader lesson of pushing yourself to learn, to excel in your current position, to seek out new areas of responsibility and engagement -- all of that applies to all of us. We might not all land a cherry deal like the OP did, but we can all be ready for whatever opportunities do come our way.

NetworkingStudent

srj wrote: »

A little bit more background:

- The help desk job was my first IT job and the list above is my total list of my IT experience. This was a switch to a new career at 25 years old. I benefited from work 2-3 years at particularly crappy jobs that really motivated me. I also benefited by having a few years of work experience.
- All of these jobs are at the same company, so it helps to know a lot of people for a few years. At the very least, they'll know that you're a good person (goes back to being likable).
- I have a BS, but it's in an unrelated field (health). I'm pursuing a MS in IT at night.
- Those were my only certs and I completed the RHCSA about 3-4 months into the SysAdmin gig. I used Jang's book to study and did a lot of labbing.
- I grew up working with computers and took the equivalent on an A+ cert class in high school. The switch from the health field to IT wasn't a big deal for me. I had also been using a Linux laptop for years, building websites on and off since 12-13 years old, etc.
- I don't have a lot of certifications, but certs don't matter as much as gaining the knowledge. Some of the skills that pay the most (scripting/programming) don't really have strong certifications anyways. I do plan on getting the RHCE to bring my certification list up a bit.
- I've had awesome managers who have allowed me to move on to opportunities that will benefit my career.

How I went Help Desk --> System Administrator in 8 months:
- I was in the right place at the right time
- Our Sys Admin left and there were a number of duties that were unaccounted for. I took over the Windows imaging system without asking me to do it.
- I told my boss that I wanted to be a System Administrator
- Studied for MSCA for Server 2012 R2 and gained most of this knowledge (but never took the exam)
- Taught myself Python and wrote scripts to fix common problems
- Got involved in process improvements when I found that things were broken. One common pain point is new hire on-boarding.
- I showed up 30-60 mins early and left an hour late for the first 5-6 months.
- Identified a weakness on the team (Linux) and became the SME on the team in that area
- If I ran into a difficult issue, then I would sometimes spend hours at home after work figuring out the solution.

Overall, I think it comes down to the fact that I prepared myself really well and I lucked out with a number of opportunities. The key is being prepared. A number of my coworkers were overlooked for some of these promotions even though they have more experience than I do.

I think these things are key from OP's original post:

- I was in the right place at the right time
- Our Sys Admin left and there were a number of duties that were unaccounted for. I took over the Windows imaging system without asking me to do it.
- I told my boss that I wanted to be a System Administrator


I think this progression could happen very quickly; however it does seem very rare.

The OP sounds hungry for more work throughout his career and hew showed upper management his passion for IT.

Also, all of the career progression happened at the same company, so I believe his personality and likability really came into play very early in his career.

When you know someone is leaving your company, it is much easier to move into that role.

dave330i

mgeoffriau wrote: »

My takeaway from this this is not so much a formula for reaching $100k that fast -- obviously, the OP's story is something most of us would find difficult to replicate without such an advantageous set of circumstances -- but rather that you don't always know exactly when or in what form the next great opportunity will come, so if you are putting yourself in good position to take advantage when it does, then growth and advancement will come much sooner.

So no, you can't copy what the OP did and get $100k in the same timeframe. It depended a lot on the company, the department, the supervisors, the specific business needs, the local marketplace, the cost of living adjustments for that area, and numerous other hidden factors. But the broader lesson of pushing yourself to learn, to excel in your current position, to seek out new areas of responsibility and engagement -- all of that applies to all of us. We might not all land a cherry deal like the OP did, but we can all be ready for whatever opportunities do come our way.

It's not that hard to reach $100k in 3 years. Many posters on this forum have achieved it. What's interesting is that OP managed to do it while working for the same company.

hurricane1091

I was never even questioning the authenticity of the OP to be fair. I got my 4th job a few months ago with 3 years experience almost on the dot (plus some laid off time) and it's not 100k, but it's close. To be fair, it should be $100k and I am going to see to it at my 1 year mark that it is because the position is a lot more involved than I originally led to believe. So yes, 3 years/100k is completely realistic in my eyes. I can tell you that I began automating our network at work. If I figure it out fully, I am pretty confident some absurd pay day could be in store in the future. I wouldn't come on here and normalize that, because it really would be "right place, right time" kind of thing. If I didn't get this job, I wouldn't be in the position of learning this stuff. But anyways, guy has not logged in since for a few months. Curious to see what happened.

Seriously though, a combination of hard work + a little luck can lead to some serious ladder climbing in IT. It's almost unreal.

SixtyCycle

Congrats to the OP. I had set the same goal 3 years ago and had about the same result (if total comp is considered). I started my first real IT job (Jr. NOC Engineer) on 5/2014, pay was $38K. I was clueless when I started, didn't even know what RDP is and didn't even know what a server is. I moved to a startup on 11/2016 with a Systems Engineer title ($50K w/ 10K shares/equity) but the work was really DevOps (company didn't want to pay for a real DevOps guy). Two days ago I accepted a DevOps position ($90K w/ 50K shares/equity). My only cert is AWS Solutions Architect - Associate, no degree.

This is very doable if you are focused and know how to plan ahead. You need to know your market, know what you need to know in order to get to the next level and push through the obstacles that come along the way.

srj

I think that it is funny that even if you call out that you were in the right place at the right time, people still hate on you for it. I have little to prove to anyone who doesn't believe it. This is not the norm, but you increase your chances of moving up quickly if you prepare.

Good luck to those who only think about certs. I'm a strong proponent of continuing education, but you don't specifically have to work on certs to move up. My focus on improving my programming (Python) has paid off despite not having a piece of paper to indicate that I'm an expert. I'm not saying forget certificates, but instead that not every skill has a certificate associated with it that is worth working towards.

Thank you to the majority for your kind words. I've been in a bit of a rut lately just trying to keep up with everything going on, but I need to get back to setting some goals to work towards for the next 2-3 years.